3/30/25, 4:32 PM Perspectives on Progress #13 | Scottish Mortgage
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Home Insights Perspectives on Progress #13
February 2025 Article 5 minutes
Perspectives on Progress
#13
Claire Shaw – Portfolio Director
• The dominance of SpaceX and Databricks in their respective
industries is supported by latest valuations
• Meituan ramps up momentum in food delivery, drone services, and
international expansion
• Leaps forward in healthcare with Insulet's latest product, and new
buy Enveda's AI-driven drug discovery
As with any investment, your capital is at risk.
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3/30/25, 4:32 PM Perspectives on Progress #13 | Scottish Mortgage
SpaceX
A Giant Leap for Humankind
SpaceX has achieved a remarkable valuation of $350bn in a new
deal to buy employees’ shares, making it the world's most valuable
private company.
The valuation comes hot off the heels of a number of significant
milestones the company made during 2024, including a record-
breaking number of launches. SpaceX successfully completed 134
trips to orbit, which accounted for more than half of all global
launches and shows its dominance in the space industry.
Starship – the world's largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever
developed – also made huge progress during 2024. The Starship
spacecraft has now launched seven times, reaching major
landmarks in its development including reaching space,
demonstrating atmospheric re-entry and achieving controlled
landings. In 2025, the company aims to launch 25 test flights,
advancing the rocket's capabilities and moving closer to operational
status for potential Mars missions.
SpaceX's satellite internet service Starlink also expanded rapidly
during the past 12 months, with over 7,000 satellites now in orbit
and five million users. Starlink is an important growth engine for the
business given the steady income from the subscriptions, which
offers a consistent cash flow to help fund ambitious developments
such as Starship. Starlink is delivering on its mission to transform
global connectivity by bridging the digital divide and bringing the
internet to remote and underprivileged areas.
The latest valuation solidifies SpaceX's position as a worldwide
leader in space exploration, satellite connectivity and modern
rocketry, and has catapulted the company into one of the world's
behemoths.
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3/30/25, 4:32 PM Perspectives on Progress #13 | Scottish Mortgage
Databricks
Capitalising on AI
Scottish Mortgage was delighted to participate in the recent
Databricks funding round, which valued the company at $62bn,
putting it comfortably in the world's top 10 most valuable private
companies. Databricks managed to raise $10bn – one of the largest
funding rounds in history – in a "substantially oversubscribed" round
that included Meta, which joined as a new strategic investor.
Databricks plans to use the proceeds to build new AI products,
make acquisitions to grow its international operations, as well as use
some of the capital to provide liquidity for current and former
employees.
Databricks is fast becoming the platform of choice for helping
organisations modernise their data and AI infrastructure, with co-
founder and chief executive Ali Ghodsi stating that "we are
committed to helping companies, across every industry build data
intelligence".
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The momentum and underlying operational progress of the
company continue to be phenomenal. Recent quarterly revenues
growth of +60 per cent has enabled the company to cross the $3bn
revenue run rate and is anticipated to be free cash flow positive early
in 2025. Revenue run rate is a financial measure that projects a
company's current revenue over a specific period (i.e: a week or
month) into an annual figure.
Databricks is in the envious position of being able to capitalise on
the momentum in AI and this recent funding round underscores
the unprecedented appetite for Databricks shares and product.
© Valerio Rosati / Alamy Stock Photo
Meituan
China's Delivery Powerhouse
The Chinese food delivery and local services giant Meituan was one
of Scottish Mortgage’s best performing stocks during 2024 as the
company made significant strides across various of its business
units.
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The economics in the food delivery business have been going from
strength to strength – 100 million orders a day looks on track with
the company having reached 90 million during peak times in 2024.
We don’t think this is the end of the growth track given the
momentum in lower-tier cities and the value-for-money products
on the Pin Hao Fan platform are proving popular with frugal
consumers amid China's slowing economy.
The company's international expansion gained momentum during
2024, with its KeeTa app becoming the market leader in Hong
Kong's food delivery sector in just over a year, capturing a 43 per
cent share by order volume. Its strategy in reaching volume
leadership in Hong Kong will serve as a blueprint as it now targets
Middle Eastern markets.
Meituan's drone delivery services also made the headlines. The
fastest delivery of the year took place at the Badaling Great Wall in
Beijing, where a cup of hot pear soup was delivered to a landing
spot on the Great Wall in just 6 minutes and 37 seconds. This swift
service showcases the efficiency and capability of Meituan drones in
meeting the diverse needs of customers, even in challenging
environments.
Overall, Meituan is transforming itself into one of China's most
critical delivery infrastructure providers.
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© Chen Wen/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images
Enveda
Accessing Nature’s Chemistry
We have taken a small initial position in the private biotechnology
company, Enveda Biosciences. The company uses AI and advanced
analytics to decode the complex chemistry of nature, developing
novel therapeutics for unmet medical needs from plants, microbes
and other natural resources.
The idea is elegant in its simplicity: 50 per cent of drugs currently on
the market originate from natural compounds, but less than 5 per
cent of existing natural compounds have been explored for
therapeutic purposes. Until recently, the natural world was
prohibitively complex, but with AI, we have the tools to analyse it in
a way that isn't cost-prohibitive.
Enveda is constructing a comprehensive chemical map of the
natural world, systematically cataloguing relationships between
chemical structures and biological functions to predict and design
innovative treatments with enhanced precision and efficiency.
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The company's platform rapidly expands access to nature's
chemistry, finding therapeutics approximately four times faster than
traditional methods. This approach has already yielded a deep and
differentiated pipeline. The recent funding will help Enveda advance
multiple candidates to clinical catalysts in the coming year,
supporting its vision that nature's chemistry is an excellent source
for new medicines.
Insulet
The System That Never Sleeps
Insulet specialises in innovative insulin delivery systems for diabetes
patients. Its flagship product, the Omnipod, offers automatic insulin
adjustments every five minutes, eliminating the need for daily
injections, tubing and finger prick testing. The automated, round-
the-clock care it provides its patients has earned it the description
"the system that never sleeps."
Backed by a recent landmark trial, the latest iteration of the device,
the Omnipod 5, is the first FDA-cleared automated insulin delivery
system for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
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Insulet's market leadership is secured by numerous patents and the
engineering complexities of its devices. However, this latest
development strengthens Insulet’s ability to penetrate markets with
low pump usage, supported by pharmacy partnerships and direct-
to-consumer marketing.
This exceptional progress, paired with international expansion plans
in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Israel, and Switzerland over 2025,
underscores Insulet's commitment to innovation and global growth,
offering a promising outlook for the future.
© Omnipod
Risk Factors
Unlisted investments such as private companies, in which the Trust has
a significant investment, can increase risk. These assets may be more
difficult to sell, so changes in their prices may be greater.
The trust invests in overseas securities. Changes in the rates of
exchange may also cause
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the value of your investment (and any income it may pay) to go down
or up.
Annual Past Performance To 31 December each year (net%)
2020 2021 2022 2023
110.5 10.5 -45.7 -12.5
Share Price
106.5 13.2 -39.0 10.1
NAV
Source: Morningstar, total return, sterling.
Past performance is not a guide to future returns.
About the author - Claire Shaw
Portfolio Director
Claire Shaw is a portfolio director and plays a prominent role in
servicing Scottish Mortgage’s UK shareholder base. Before joining in
2019, she spent over a decade as a fund manager with a focus on
managing European equity portfolios for a global client base. With a
background in analysing companies and communicating investment
ideas, Claire is also responsible for creating engaging content that
makes the Scottish Mortgage portfolio accessible to all its
shareholders. Beyond that, she works closely with the managers,
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meeting with portfolio companies and conducting in-depth portfolio
discussions with shareholders.
Important information
This communication was produced and approved at the time
stated and may not have been updated subsequently. It
represents views held at the time of production and may not
reflect current thinking.
This content does not constitute, and is not subject to the
protections afforded to, independent research. Baillie Gifford and
its staff may have dealt in the investments concerned. The views
expressed are not statements of fact and should not be
considered as advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a
particular investment.
Baillie Gifford & Co and Baillie Gifford & Co Limited are authorised
and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The
investment trusts managed by Baillie Gifford & Co Limited are
listed on the London Stock Exchange and are not authorised or
regulated by the FCA.
A Key Information Document is available by visiting our
Documents page.
Any images used in this content are for illustrative purposes only.
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